


Just The Assistant

by find_nowhere



Category: Nashville (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 13:11:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1551674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/find_nowhere/pseuds/find_nowhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Juliette made another poor decision then what happened? Emily saves the day (sort of).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just The Assistant

**Author's Note:**

> Insert this immediately after Episode 2.20 "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad." Spoilers if you haven't seen it.
> 
> This story is of no relation to my other Juliette/Emily fic. Emily probably won't even be in the next episode, but whatever. I ship them so hard for no good reason.
> 
> Rated T+. Nothing too crazy happens, just corny stuff.

"Come get me," Juliette Barnes snapped. There was a ton of background noise and it sounded like her voice may have cracked, but it may have just been the reception.

"Are you...are you ok?" Emily questioned unsurely. She'd already picked up her car keys and purse. She was halfway to the door. She didn't even ask her why she wasn't taking the car that took her to the party.

"I'm fine, just come get me. Damn it." She enunciated every word, sounding angrier with each.

"Ok. Relax. Where are you exactly?" She was already locking her door behind her, not knowing where exactly she was going or having any idea why.

...

About twenty minutes later, Emily was pulling her modest sedan up to the curb. There were people covering the sidewalk like insects amid camera flashes and incoherent yelling. She didn't see Juliette anywhere, but then again the girl was short. She rapped her fingers on the steering wheel and kept looking, wondering why Juliette hadn't just called a cab - why she hadn't called, you know, the car that dropped her off. These questions only rose in her mind after she got there. Emily was not her driver. Emily was just her assistant and she kept reminding herself of that. She'd responded awfully quickly though. Miss Barnes said, "Jump." and you know the rest...

She groaned, thinking her pain-in-the-ass employer had gotten tired of waiting and had probably hopped in a taxi after all or found some other ride. She'd left the house for nothing and without hesitation, but it wasn't like it was the first time. Why'd she done it anyway? She'd just taken off her shoes and finished going over Juliette's schedule for the next week. She'd sat down with a glass of wine that she ended up abandoning on the end table when she picked up her phone. She could've ignored it, but instead she was on her feet as soon as she looked at the caller ID.

She slumped over the wheel and looked through the windshield over the dash. The police were bound to show up and ask her to move at any second. She was about to put the car back in drive and just go when she saw the diminutive blonde. Flashing the headlights, she waved to her and unlocked the door. Juliette looked unkempt, but how else was she going to look after several hours of what was likely excessive drinking in an attempt to silence whatever feelings she was having about not being in control over the last few days.

When she slid into the passenger seat she slammed the door and put her seatbelt on as angrily as one can put on a seatbelt. Emily winced and looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Home or Avery's?" she asked.

"Neither." The girl crossed her arms, stubbornly.

"Ok...where am I taking you then?"

"Anywhere else."

"Alright," Emily put the idling car into drive and pulled back onto the street. She didn't really know where to go where people wouldn't recognize Juliette and she didn't know if that was what she wanted or not. She also couldn't bring herself to ask. Juliette didn't need more to drink, but that was likely what she wanted. She also likely wanted Emily to use her non-existent psychic powers to know exactly what she wanted without asking. Asking would just get her head bitten off.

"I suppose I'm takin' you up on that pity date," said Juliette, bitterly.

"Um, ok, but it's late and I-"

"Oh, so your offer had some sorta expiration date then?" she growled.

"Well...no, but-"

"You work for me," Juliette reminded her. Then she added, "I'll buy your drinks."

"Then who will drive us both home?"

"I'll call the limo. I can do whatever I want."

"Maybe I should just take you to Avery's place."

"No!" she yelled.

Emily cringed and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She regretted answering her phone. She didn't believe that all celebrities were like this - they couldn't be. They couldn't all be these angry shitheads, who called their assistants in the middle of the night to aimlessly drive them around. They at least called their driver's for that. How in the hell had Juliette ended up so entitled anyway? She grew up in a trailer park with a junkie mom. Her humble beginnings before stardom should have given her some perspective.

She had thought something was wrong and that was why she picked up the phone. She figured it was about time Juliette got herself into some sort of mess. But nothing was wrong. Juliette's temper tantrum that began days before was just continuing late into that evening. Scarlet was getting all of the attention from everyone and Juliette couldn't deal with it. She was the most self-centered, egotistical person Emily had ever met and she couldn't fathom why she was always so eager to please her.

When she pulled up to a stoplight she looked over at Juliette, considering some sort of reprimand. Juliette would just snap at her, which she did all the time anyway, so there was nothing to lose. Instead of finding her glowering, she'd propped her arm on the door and had turned her face completely away. She was staring out of the window. Emily did pity her, but it wasn't for the reasons Juliette seemed to think. It was because she was constantly trying so hard to keep everyone away. Her sadness always turned into misappropriated anger and poor decisions. Emily knew though that if she confessed knowing this, Juliette would surely fly into a rage of denial. It would probably actually get her fired. She asked her, "So where do you wanna go?"

"Somewhere with a lot of people," she answered flatly.

"You just left a place with a lot of people," she tried to joke.

She clarified, "Different people."

...

The two sat shoulder to shoulder at a packed bar. Emily swirled her drink and Juliette just stared at hers. Their coversation had fallen flat again and again and they had to scream at each other to talk anyway. They'd wound up at some little club with dueling pianos and the throngs of drunk college students were too drunk to notice that the great Juliette Barnes was among them. The exhausted bartender noticed, but did nothing more than provide them with a free round to get started.

"I left a perfectly good glass of wine at my place to come out and drink whiskey sours made with bottom-shelf whiskey..." Emily said, trying again to joke.

"I don't need you makin' me feel guilty too."

"I'm not, I just..." she sighed and gave up, sipping on the drink in question instead of saying more. Some pity date this was. No fun was being had.

She watched Juliette suddenly down her entire drink and wave the bartender over for another. She also noticed a deep reddening mark on her neck, right in the place that connected to her shoulder. It hadn't been there before. It definitely hadn't been there when Juliette was getting dressed - not that she paid that much attention to Juliette's neck. She was curious and then felt that sense of worry she'd had felt before.

"Hey, did something happen?" she leaned over and asked.

Juliette turned her head suddenly and glared, "Did somethin' happen? Shit hit the fan is what fuckin' happened. What hasn't happened? It's just one stupid thing after another lately."

"That isn't what I meant, but whatever. How about I just go home and you call your car when you're done, alright?" She started to get up from the barstool. Juliette looked like she was about to have her own public meltdown and Emily wanted no part of it. She wouldn't put it past her to try something ridiculous like that just to overshadow Scarlet and regain Avery's attention. 

"Emily, don't." She grabbed her wrist. Her voice was reproachful.

Sighing, Emily sat back down. She felt like she was being manipulated and she full-well knew it. 

"Another?" the bartender asked her quickly.

She shook her head, but Juliette answered for her. "Yes. She'll have another."

"I wanted to go out with you before. I wanted to go to that stupid party with you. I really did and not out of pity. I know I work for you and that things are on your terms, but...this? I keep trying to talk to you and I'm not here to be your punching bag." She was a little angry, but she wasn't sure Juliette had even heard her over the crowd chanting for some Journey song or another.

Juliette hadn't let go of her wrist. Her grip had in fact tightened. Her eyes dropped and she said, barely audible over the noise, "I'm sorry."

Emily doubted that and kept thinking that Juliette's own meltdown was upon them. She'd been out of the tabloids for too long. A new drink was deposited in front of her. She reached out and pulled up on the neck of Juliette's top then straightened her necklace, "Your boob's popping out. What would you do without me?"

This seemed to make the blonde feel genuinely awful. She finally let go of her and began hovering over her drink again, "Turns out that I did need a babysitter."

"What happened?" Emily asked her again and leaned in so she could hear.

"I slept with Jeff Fordham," she said with no emotion whatsoever and then took up her glass.

The first question Emily had was of course: Why? She knew why though well enough. It was because Juliette was sad and had tangled up sex with her self-worth. Her next question was: How did you manage that at an industry party? Her third question was: Do you not remember him coming into your home uninvited and calling you trailer-trash? Emily did not ask any of these questions. Instead she just sat there and added Fordham to the list of awful men that Juliette slept with since she'd known her. The only not awful man she'd slept with was Avery. He actually treated her half-way decent and here she was, back to her old tricks. The guy she married for a hot second was ok too, but that was neither here nor there.

"Well, then," muttered Emily and picked up her own drink. She believed she could have perhaps stopped her from making that awful decision, but what's done was done. She couldn't stop her from getting shitfaced, but she could have prevented her from cheating on her boyfriend. Maybe. 

"You think I'm a bad person, don't you?"

She shrugged. "You make bad decisions."

"Bad decisions make a bad person though, right?" She gulped down her drink and motioned for a third.

Emily liked Avery as far as the men in Juliette's life went. He had seemed to mellow her out a little. She spent every chance she got with him and Emily had actually gotten somewhat excited at the prospect of going to the party with Juliette. She hadn't felt needed quite as much and she realized that on some level she liked that Juliette needed her. Juliette's self-worth was tied up with sex and Emily's was apparently wrapped up in performing menial tasks for someone that seldom thanked her. She didn't know why all of these thoughts were now surfacing, aside from to block out the images of Juliette and Fordham banging in a bathroom stall or other unsavory location.

After a moment, Emily took a deep breath and said, "I don't know if you're a bad person. I think Fordham is a bad person though, but maybe I'm biased because of-"

"I know. I know. I remember it. Don't remind me." Confessing seemed to make Juliette lighten up or the drinks did - or the combination of the two.

Sometimes Emily really hated Juliette. Other times, she really didn't. This moment was one of the latter, oddly enough.

"So what do I do?"

"What do you do about what?" Emily questioned.

"About...everything."

"I don't know. You do have a hickey though." She touched the place on her neck lightly, "Right there."

"Oh, shit. I'm not in high school. What the hell?" She got agitated and covered it with her hand. "He's like forty. He should know better."

Emily laughed a little. If she were going to have a spontaneous drunken hook up with Juliette she would be more stealthy. She agreed with her, "Yeah."

"Thank God for makeup."

The two sat quietly again, their shoulders touching, for a few minutes. Emily asked the bartender for a glass of water, and Juliette was no longer hellbent on getting her drunk. 

Juliette spoke up again first. She asked once more, "So what do I do?"

"I just keep track of your schedule and get you coffee and lunch. I'm not really qualified to advise you in your personal life."

"Sometimes I think you care about me and then I remember that I pay you." A hint of anger had returned, but not much. It sounded more like actual sadness.

"I do care about you," Emily told her.

"Yeah. Right," she picked up her drink and turned around, leaning her back on the bar top. "I think it's about time I make my presence known. This seems like a great place for an impromptu show."

"Don't," Emily said firmly. "Let's just go. I'll take you home and we can try to home-remedy your hickey with some vinegar and call it a night."

"Avery's probably there. He's called me, like, a million times."

"So you can crash at my place. Whatever. Just don't start a riot here."

"It's already a madhouse, but ok." She fumbled in her purse for some cash and threw the crumbled bills onto the bar. She jumped off of the stool and wobbled severely.  
Emily grabbed her elbow and then put her arm around her shoulders with a jovial laugh. "Looks like you got good and drunk."

"Sure did. Had to be to sleep with Fordham."

...

"Alright. Stay there," Emily said once Juliette was seated on her couch. She nodded to her abandoned drink from earlier, "Don't touch my wine."

She went into the kitchen to find some vinegar and a fork for the infamous hickey-home-remedy. When she returned she found Juliette sitting right where she'd left her and her wine untouched. She didn't really care if Juliette drank her wine. She mostly didn't want her drunkenly stumbling around her shitty rental house, judging her in her drunk voice.

"You know," Juliette started when she realized Emily was back, "I haven't had a slumber party with girl friends since...since, ever. I don't really have any girl friends now though...so..."

"I'm your friend and I'm a girl. Now do you want me to fork at your neck or do you want to?" She held out the utensil and then found herself rambling, "This works because it gets the blood flowing again that's pooling there or something."

Juliette made no attempt to take the fork and looked up sadly at her. Suddenly her eyes were glistening and glassy, "I just wanted to help. Nobody would let me help."

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked, retracting the fork and wondering if Juliette was going to cry.

"Scarlet," she said as if it should have been obvious. "Everybody thinks I'm not good for anything."

Emily sat all of her supplies on the coffee table and then she took a seat on the table in front of Juliette. She put her hands on Juliette's knees and said, "You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

"Bullshit. It was my fault. Everything is and then no one would let me help." The strange sincerity was a different side of Juliette. It made Emily want to kiss her. The possibility of Juliette actually crying was foreign and made her seem perfectly human for once. Why that made Emily want to kiss her she wasn't entirely sure. Despite all that, Emily didn't want her to cry.

"You really wanted to help?" She looked down at Juliette's legs and noticed what looked like a row of fingernail scratches running down her right thigh.

"I really wanted to help..." she said pathetically.

"I honestly thought you were just mad everyone was paying attention to her."

"It's my own damn fault, I guess. Give me that vinegar and let me fix my stupid neck so I can lie to my boyfriend tomorrow." She choked back any tears that had been welling up and returned to her normal, cold self.

"You need to fix more than your neck," she told her, moving up the hem of her dress and pointing to her leg.

"Jesus Christ. I guess he was kinda rough...I didn't notice at the time. We were in a hurry bein' at a party and all." She began looking over her arms and mumbled, "I'm going to have to wear pants for the next week and God knows what other marks he left. Good God. I was gettin' onto Avery about not wantin' to sleep with me and now I'm going to have to dress like a nun." She let out a loud groan. "Help me up and then look me over. Let's see what other damage Fordham did. You'd think he hadn't gotten laid in years."

"He's kind of a dick, so maybe he hadn't." Emily let her hands fall from Juliette's legs. She noticed how soft her skin was and then said quickly, "Looks like he got both of your thighs."

"Damn."

"Was he any good?" Emily found herself asking and then she felt ridiculously awkward. She felt so awkward that she got up and picked up her wine.

"It was good if you're into what is obviously hate-sex."

"I...uh-" Emily didn't know what she was going to say and silenced herself with her wine.

Juliette kicked off her shoes and left them askew under the table then she forced herself up and began fumbling with her zipper. "I'm sure that son of a bitch mutilated my back too. Help me out."

"Wait..." she faltered.

"What? Your blinds are closed. Just look at my back and get me some Neosporin or something. Who knows what nasty stuff was livin' under his fingernails."

"Juliette, I..."

"What is it?" snapped the blonde. "Does it look like he beat me? Assess the damage and tell me how much shit I'm in."

Emily swallowed forcefully and sat down her wine in its place. Her head was swimming and she wondered if perhaps she shouldn't have driven. She'd only had two drinks and a few sips of wine, but it was as if she had somehow fallen in love with Juliette at some point and the forbidden knowledge only just hit her a moment before. It was like everything made sense and nothing made sense all at once. Her hands shook as she helped Juliette with her zipper and she found herself attempting to ask the questions that had occurred to her after Juliette's initial confession. "How did...where? How did you even get him to? I thought..."

Laughing half-heartedly, Juliette said, "You're awfully curious."

"No, I...no. I'm just...your back looks fine. He just got grabby with your legs."

She let out a sigh of relief, "Good. I think I can work with that. I do have nice legs."

"Juliette, I'm sorry about everything," Emily said quietly and zipped her back up then found her own hands resting on her shoulders, compulsively making sure the straps of her dress were straight.

"Don't make this into a pity party. I'm not in the mood."

"I'm not trying to. I'm just apologizing for-"

"Well, don't. I shouldn't have said that stupid shit I said a minute ago. Forget I said it," she whirled around and swatted Emily's hands away.

Emily responded with a solemn, "No."

Juliette cocked her head to the side and her eyes narrowed, "No?"

"You heard me," she said with dramatically less conviction.

"I hope you're not gettin' some stupid idea about writin' some tell-all book about me because that would be a breech of your contract and-"

At some point in the middle of what was going to be another of Juliette's tirades, Emily had put her hands gently on either side of her neck. They stood close together, but Juliette was showing no signs of stopping her speech. Emily kissed her. It shut her up quickly. She would've stopped and would have let her go immediately had there been the slightest sign of resistance. There was none. Juliette's hands immediately grabbed her hips and her tongue began pressing lightly against her mouth. She allowed it to enter eagerly and let her fingers tangle absently in the back of her hair. The small gap between them had completely closed and Emily felt the cold metal of Juliette's necklace through her blouse. She also felt her breasts that were spilling out of her dress, pressed against her, and her own heart throbbing out of control while everything reasonable in her head told her to stop.

Finally, Juliette was the one to pull away. Emily looked at her standing there with her swollen lips. They still stood close, but were no longer touching. She reached out and straightened Juliette's necklace again as she looked at her, all befuddled. Emily worried at the inside of her cheek and then straightened her own shirt saying, "Sometimes I wish you'd really just shut up."

"That's one way to handle it..." Juliette commented hoarsely. 

"That was the most unprofessional thing I've ever done. I'm going to bed. You can fire me in the morning after I take you home, if you want." She walked away, picking up her wine glass and finished the last sip. She vanished into her kitchen to put the glass in the dishwasher, leaving Juliette where she was. Her face felt like it was on fire and the voice of reason in her mind was enumerating a lengthy list of reasons that she had just done something really stupid.

"Emily?" Juliette called after her unsurely.

"Hmm?" she said as she turned out the kitchen light and went toward the hall closet where she pulled out a spare pillow and blanket.

"Was that some sort of stunt to get me to fire you so that you can then breech your contract and write a tell-all book about-"

"No," Emily cut her off and found herself smiling slightly. She threw the pillow and blanket at Juliette, "Guest bathroom is the second door on the left down the hall."

"Emily?" Juliette called after her again as she started down the hallway. She had failed to catch the blanket and it lay lifelessly on the couch while she clutched the pillow to her chest.

"What else do you need?" Emily asked, her voice was muffled through the wall. She was trying not to burst into hysterical laughter. She couldn't believe she'd done that. It was freakishly exhilarating. She hadn't expected to enjoy it so much and it had also left Juliette completely confused, which was a great feeling in itself. She didn't know if Juliette would fire her or not and she wasn't sure if she cared. She was fairly certain she'd wake up in the morning feeling guilty. Both of them would be keeping secrets from Avery and she liked Avery fine - as far as boys Juliette dated went. She was also fairly certain at that moment that she would have preferred to have been the one dating Juliette. It was silly and she was a little drunk.

"Nothing. Nevermind," Juliette finally said. "Thanks for picking me up and, um, stuff."

It was one of the few decent 'think yous' that Emily had extracted from Juliette and she responded with and obligatory, assistant-like, "You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else."

She watched as the light clicked off and the hallway became dark as Juliette shut out the lights in the living room. She closed her bedroom door, unsure what the next morning would bring. Maybe Juliette wouldn't even remember. Maybe it didn't matter. Juliette had more to worry about than her assistant kissing her out of nowhere. After all, the opening act for her tour just had a breakdown and then she cheated on her boyfriend with the head of her former record label. Emily also doubted she'd be fired because no one wanted to work for the incredibly high-maintenance Miss Barnes. Emily laughed faintly and draped her arm over her eyes. Juliette would probably pretend nothing happened and they'd go about their business as usual. That would be fine. She was just her assistant, she reminded herself again.


End file.
